Does it Matter?
by my shangri-la
Summary: THIS HAS BEEN EDITED. One-shot. SPOILERS! Maya never wanted to be Riley again. (The possible aftermath after 'Girl Meets Yearbook')


_**Does it Matter?**_

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW or anything from the Disney channel**

 **Summary: SPOILERS! Maya never wanted to be Riley again. (The possible aftermath after 'Girl Meets Yearbook')**

 **A/N: SPOILERS! One-shot. Canon through newest episode… THIS HAS BEEN EDITED. And there is a long Author's Note at the end.**

 **0**

Maya hadn't thought it would be easy to _be_ her best friend. Mostly because she wasn't a _'unicorns, rainbows, and_ _ **puppies!**_ _'_ type of girl. But even with her mother's warning, she'd never expected to uncover any secrets about Riley, much less anything so mind-bending. _Riley was supposed to be an open book. But Riley didn't know that she even_ _ **had**_ _a secret._

Now Maya was confused. It was uncomfortable. Her skin felt itchy and tight, holding in the information she wished she had no privy to, but it was too late…

 _She knew._

0

Katy was watching her daughter sit at their kitchen table with a strange mix of alarm and amusement. Maybe if Maya hadn't face-planted on the table as soon as she'd gotten home from school that day, and hadn't moved in three hours except to occasionally thud her head against the table – and to eat the giant bowl of ice cream her mother wisely handed over at the half hour mark - Katy would have laughed. It was kind of funny to see her daughter worked up over something _normal_ for a change.

Clearly, she couldn't leave her daughter in this state, and Maya had had ample time to mope, so she tried again, taking a seat at the table.

"Alright, Maya, let's hash this out, alright?" she said calmly. "You found out something about Riley", Katy said carefully.

Maya groaned, but nodded against the table.

"You want to tell me what happened?"

Her answer of 'maybe' was muffled.

Katy sighed. _This one-_ her daughter was so stubborn. Luckily that was a trait they shared. "Okay, come on", she prodded her daughter's shoulder gently. "Sit up and talk to me."

Maya sat up, planting her elbows on the table top and dropping her chin into her hands, keeping her eyes closed.

"Close enough", Katy muttered before focusing on the problem at hand. "Tell me what happened when you were Riley."

Maya opened her eyes and frowned contemplatively. Her mouth opened and closed twice before she managed to get one word out. "Lucas." Her mouth clicked shut and the blood drained from her face. Her fingers curled, nails digging into the palms of her hand harshly. " _Mom-_ "

"What happened with Lucas, Maya?" Katy asked calmly, forcing the younger blonde to focus.

"I was being _Riley_!"

"I know, sweetie", Katy said soothingly. "What happened?"

"Maybe I pushed too hard, trying to get her to snap out of it", Maya muttered to herself. She looked at her mother who was still waiting patiently. "I was being Riley", she said again, hands gesturing futilely. "And I was talking, and… I don't think Riley likes Lucas like she thinks she does", she finishes softly.

Katy frowns. _She'd been expecting something worse. But maybe-_ "Does it matter?" she asks carefully.

"Does what matter?"

"If Riley's feelings for Lucas aren't what she thinks they are… does it matter?"

"Of _course_ it matters, Mom. Someone's going to get hurt when this blows up in everyone's face. Riley thinks she's in love with him, and I can't tell her she's not, because she's a naïve little bunny rabbit-"

"Riley will figure out her feelings eventually. And you're right; you don't have to be the one to tell her, at least not right now. But I was talking about you, Maya", Katy watches carefully. "Does it matter to you how Riley feels about Lucas?"

"No?" Maya frowns. "I don't know. Why would it matter to me?"

"Why _would_ it matter to you?"

Maya groans and face-plants on the table again. "What if it matters? Then what?" she lets out a childish noise of complaint. "I never wanna be Riley again."

"You don't need to be Riley, Maya", Katy shook her head.

There was a knock on the door.

"If it's for me, tell them I went to prison", Maya said.

"It should be Shawn", her mother said with a chuckle. Katy got up and walked from their small kitchen through the living room to answer the door.

Maya heard their voices from her unmoving position at the table, and finally her mom came back with Shawn following. Maybe she should pretend that she wasn't in the midst of some kind of teenage 'girl crisis', but after her time being Riley, she had no energy left for any kind of fake happy.

Maya felt a slight tug on her ponytail before she heard Shawn's question. "What's up with this one?"

"Boy problems", Katy said wryly.

Maya groaned. _Way to send Shawn running for the hills, Mom._

"Do I need to kill someone?" he asked seriously.

" _Shawn!_ " Katy groaned and swatted his shoulder.

"Well, do I?"

Maya snickered and sat up again. "No murder necessary", she shook her head in amusement.

He eyed her scrutinizingly. "You're not old enough to have boy problems."

"Tell that to my boy problems", Maya quipped immediately.

He nodded, "Point taken. Anything I can help with?"

"I highly doubt _you've_ had boy problems", Maya rolled her eyes. "Just because you and Maya's dad have some crazy bro-mance thing going on-"

He raised a challenging eyebrow. "Clearly Cory never told you about the week in high school I spent as a woman."

"What?!" Maya cackled. "I have to hear about this!"

"I'm kind of scared to hear about this", Katy muttered under her breath.

"It was for an article in the school newspaper", Shawn rolled his eyes. "It was supposed to be Cory. But Topanga, Eric, and I decided he wasn't pretty enough to be a woman. And he couldn't walk in heels."

"You guys got kind of wacky in Philly, didn't ya?" Maya teased.

Shawn eyed her curiously, thumb and forefinger rubbing his chin. "Don't ever join a cult", he said finally. "Even if everyone hugs each other all the time, for no good reason, and it gives you warm fuzzies… _don't._ "

"Uh…" Maya blinked. _What?!_

"There will always be someone who wants to be there for you for the _right_ reason", he said quietly. "Sometimes the hardest thing you have to do is let them."

She nodded, meeting his gaze and wordlessly letting him know she understood. Then he changed the subject to something less intense. Shawn continued reminiscing about the past, and Katy left briefly, to go grab a few take-out menus from the basket on the counter.

Katy didn't mind that they were apparently staying in tonight. _She enjoyed watching her daughter spend time with a man who cared about both of them._

00

Maya waited until just before the bell rang to run to class the next day. She'd rather put off any blowback from yesterday's disaster.

"Maya!"

And she was still caught.

 _Shoot._

She froze mid-step. If there was ever a time to let curse words slip through her lips-

Maya let Lucas catch up to her. _Nothing was wrong and she wasn't a chicken._ "We have to go to class", she gestured a thumb over her shoulder, avoiding his gaze when he stopped in front of her.

"It can wait."

"Not really", she shook her head and turned to walk past the wall of windows to the back door of the classroom. The halls were mostly empty by now; most of the students were in their classes like _they_ were supposed to be.

"You think I won't make a scene if you walk in there?" he mused.

 _Crap._

Lucas was normally pretty easy-going, but he didn't like being ignored.

"Alright, Ranger Rick", she waved her arm grandly in a 'get on with it' gesture. "What's up?"

"What's up with you?"

"You're making us later for class for a 'hi, how are you?' conversation?" Maya asked incredulously.

"Nope. I wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday."

"I'm fine."

"Maya… friends don't lie to each other. We're friends, right?"

She sighed and met his gaze finally. "Of course we are", she acknowledged quietly.

"So, answer my question. You want to tell me why you got spooked?"

She bit her lip roughly, looking away. "I can't. You can't ask me that, okay?"

"I heard what you said."

 _Of_ _ **course**_ _he'd caught that._ "I know", she grumbled, continuing to mutter to herself under her breath about 'overly observant cowboys'.

He grinned. "What was that?"

"Nothing", she gave him a Cheshire grin. Then she took a deep breath and bit the bullet. "I can't talk to you about Riley, okay? It wouldn't be right." _Especially after she'd lied to Riley about the whole mess…_

He eyed her steadily, and nodded, letting it go for the time being. She breathed a sigh of relief that she nearly choked on when he spoke again, his voice as serious as hers.

"I'm sorry."

"For _what_?" she asked incredulously.

Lucas was about to open his mouth when Mr. Matthews found them in the hallway. "Are you two planning on coming to class anytime soon?" he asked curiously.

"Sorry, Sir", Lucas said quickly, before Maya could make an excuse to end their conversation. "We need a few more minutes."

Maya rolled her eyes to the ceiling exasperatedly. "Testing my patience here, Ranger Rick", she grumbled.

He spared a moment to wink at her, and she playfully shuddered in disgust.

Mr. Matthews nodded to himself, watching the exchange with a shrewd eye. "Be in class in five minutes", he allowed before leaving them alone again.

"Thank you, Sir", Lucas called as he left.

Maya stayed silent, now gnawing on her bottom lip. The stray thought of the night before entered her mind, and she almost lost her composure trying not to picture Maya's dad trying to walk in heels.

 _Or in a dress-_

 _Shoot._

She shook her head roughly. _Not thinking about_ _ **that**_ _ever again-_

"What?" Lucas asked, watching her clearly lose her sanity.

"You don't want to know", she chuckled. "Look, we really should-"

"Maya, would you just let me apologize?" he asked with a sigh.

She frowned again. " _Why_ are you apologizing? You didn't do anything-"

"I hurt your feelings yesterday. I know I did. I didn't mean to."

 _Oh, he really wanted to talk today, didn't he?_ "I-"

"Don't say I didn't. If we're friends- friends aren't perfect, but I swear I wouldn't hurt you on purpose, Maya."

"I know that", she offered quietly. She did. And they'd all been out of sorts this week. _It wouldn't be right to hold one mistake against him, when he'd stood strong for them while they'd all drifted._

"Then let me make it right."

She nodded her acceptance before she wondered if she might be getting more than she bargained for. "What-"

"I'm sorry, Maya", he repeated seriously. "I shouldn't have said it, especially not in front of everyone."

"I forgive you", she said honestly. "Really." _Honestly, she was just happy he didn't try to make her re-hash the whole thing. He knew her better than that. It would have ended very awkwardly for both of them. But he was Lucas, and he could be stubborn too. And he didn't back down if something was important. If he wanted to clear the air between them, she'd let him. She was too mentally exhausted to fight him on the notion of her hurt feelings, especially when what he'd said had actually stung._

"That easy? I don't have to jump through rings of fire first?"

She snickered. _Of course he'd be surprised. But she'd told Riley that it was okay to listen to the_ _ **right**_ _people, and Shawn had given her good advice the night before. And Lucas was a real friend._ "Only if you want to, but I don't see you coming anywhere near me if I have fire."

"I think I'll leave the rings of fire to Johnny Cash", he smirked. "And so should you."

"Don't ever change, Huckleberry", Maya said quietly, mouth turned slightly upward.

He grinned. "You either. We need you to be _you_ Maya."

She chuckled. "Yeah, you do."

"Come on. We'd better get in there", Lucas said, shaking his head, reaching for her to shove her gently in front of him towards the classroom.

They're stepping through the doorway when he pauses and frowns, and the question that comes out of his mouth makes her groan.

"Is there a bruise on your forehead?"

 _She needed more ice cream._

 _Did it matter to Maya what Riley really thought of Lucas?_

 _It didn't matter right now… but in the future, it might._

00

 _ **A/N: THIS HAS BEEN EDITED SINCE POSTING! Well, guys, this was fun! I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think. This is my first piece in this section, so hopefully everyone is in-character.**_

 _ **So, here's my theory for writing this piece (EPISODE SPOILERS!): I know Maya's character isn't overly angst-y, but she is a teenage girl, and IS going to have to muddle through that whole mess eventually. The last scene with her and Riley talking at the 'magic window' shows that. I think Maya is emotionally raw – to an extent – by the end the episode. She had to deal with the idea that her two oldest, and best friends had changed, and might not come back… and who would she be if she didn't have them? And then she attempts to BE Riley, which backfires when she realizes people don't care, and Lucas – innocently – backs himself into a corner, trying to convince Maya to be herself, but did such an un-stellar job at it, he actually convinced her she SHOULD be Riley.**_

 _ **I think he would have apologized to her, or made sure she was alright, one way or another. And then she finds out – or thinks she finds out, I'm not sure how GMW will spin this little revelation – that maybe Riley isn't in love with Lucas like she thinks she is. (Which, duh. I think Riley is a little too naïve to feel any kind of romantic love right now.) And Maya reacts… very strongly to this revelation. Probably stronger than the situation would warrant if it didn't involve her feelings in some way… I think she needed to talk to someone about it, and the logical person would be her mother. And I love Shawn, so that happened. Lol.**_

 _ **I think I might write a companion piece in Lucas's perspective for this episode… just because. It might require a new title, so it might be posted separately. (And I am plotting something else… we'll see how it goes.) Be on the look-out!**_


End file.
